Which clinic would you use for your last Hail Mary if you have DOR?

[Anonymous]

Hi all, I have done 3 egg retrievals with SGF but unfortunately have not had success yet (3 blasts total out of 3 retrievals, 2 failed FETs and one fresh transfer that ended in a miscarriage). We're looking to switch clinics because it's time to try something new (even though I do like SGF, which I know is the minority!).

I'm doing consults with these 3, but would love to hear anyone's perspective if you've been in the same boat and/or have worked with any of these clinics and REs.

CCRM Lone Tree - apparently has best lab in the country, I have a consult with Dr Surrey in March who has great reviews but will require a lot of travel, they're expensive, etc. But, they're arguably "the best"? (FYI Schoolcraft not accepting new patients otherwise I'd request him!)

Cornell and Dr Davis - trying to set up a consult with him now, travel would be much easier from here but not sure if he accepts insurance.

Cooper Institute and Dr Check - I've heard he works miracles, I actually met him last month and while he's a bit eccentric he clearly knows his stuff. But the practice feels a bit sloppy (and controversial w/ the Adderal bit) and my limited experience has required a lot of chasing for lab work, etc.

For history, I am 38 years old and in 2020 my AMH was .6, FSH 16 (but has since lowered), and AFC anywhere from 8-13. I have a daughter born in 2019 conceived through IUI.

Any thoughts or input are greatly appreciated - we're approaching our financial ceiling soon so are willing to be no holds barred for the last 1-2 rounds in terms of travel and cost. I care mostly about the results/outcome, don't really care much about bedside manner, nurse treatment, etc. Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Also try generation next in nyc. holding my 2 week old hail mary baby right now at 42.

[Anonymous]

Dr Davis

[Anonymous]

Dr Davis. He is thoughtful and systematic, plus the nurses and office staff who work with him are exceptional. Although I paid out of pocket for my initial consult, I was able to get my cycles covered by insurance.

I was DOR, did three cycles in DC, and two with Dr Davis. The second one was successful. Conceived at 39, born when I was 40.

[Anonymous]

Dr. Davis/ Cornell. I had success twice there with a doctor who works under him (Dr. Reichman -- who I highly recommend!) and my stats were worse than yours.

[Anonymous]

What do these clinics say about poor egg/embryo quality with DOR/premature ovarian failure? We never got a blast over 3 rounds of IVF with different protocols, plus HGH, CoQ10, and all of the egg quality extras (and advanced semen analyses). Plus had many early miscarriages on our own all in our mid 30s. I assume my egg quality is just shot and no fancy RE can make bad eggs normal again. But did any of you hear anything new or different regarding egg quality from the clinics in this thread?

[Anonymous]

Are you sure it egg quality? I was repeatedly told that it was my egg quality from many of these doctors. It turned out it was sperm quality. Making blasts (growing after D3 can relate to sperm quality).

[Anonymous]

I went to CCRM in lone tree and it only involved 2 short trips there. It was actually very easy and less stressful than some of my dr visits in dc. I highly recommend them!

[Anonymous]

I have two Cornell/Davis babies. They take insurance, yes. My cycles were covered.

[Anonymous]

OP here, thanks everyone! Sounds like Cornell and CCRM are the way to go.

11:18 to be honest not 100% sure if it's egg quality, sperm issue or both. our fertilization rates are low (20-50%), my husband has history of testicular torsion from when he was younger but he's still producing sperm, just slight morphology and limited motility in post-coital tests. We've done DNA frag and karyotyping too and all came back fine so deducing that it might be my eggs. Forgot to mention we have a daughter born in 2019 through IUI so things were working back then...

at SGF they don't check progress until Day 5 so hard to determine any day 3 dropoff, but I guess could assume any that fertilize and don't make it to blast are then a sperm problem... Did you have success elsewhere once you knew it was a sperm issue?

I have a consult with Dr Davis tomorrow (paying his consult fee OOP, but thankfully Weill Cornell is in-network so all IVF procedures will be covered by insurance). Then I have a phone consult with CCRM in March. While CCRM sounds great and I wouldn't mind taking the trips to CO, since I have DOR and difficulty creating blasts my gut tells me Dr Davis is the way to go.

[Anonymous]

15:54 re: bad egg quality, I hear you - and there is an element of they can't create miracles if our eggs are that bad... however I'm hoping this last ditch effort will be either the solve, or true confirmation that it's in fact egg quality and nothing can be done.

From what I've read, Dr Davis is better versed in different protocols geared towards DOR, optimizing med protocols throughout monitoring for even growth, etc. Time will only tell but hoping this change to specialist/expect from cookie-cutter will be what we need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:15:54 re: bad egg quality, I hear you - and there is an element of they can't create miracles if our eggs are that bad... however I'm hoping this last ditch effort will be either the solve, or true confirmation that it's in fact egg quality and nothing can be done.

From what I've read, Dr Davis is better versed in different protocols geared towards DOR, optimizing med protocols throughout monitoring for even growth, etc. Time will only tell but hoping this change to specialist/expect from cookie-cutter will be what we need.

15:54 here. Please update with your cycle results and best of luck! It's too late for us, but I'd be so interested to hear if things worked out for you. We considered going to Cornell, but were emotionally spent by that point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:15:54 re: bad egg quality, I hear you - and there is an element of they can't create miracles if our eggs are that bad... however I'm hoping this last ditch effort will be either the solve, or true confirmation that it's in fact egg quality and nothing can be done.

From what I've read, Dr Davis is better versed in different protocols geared towards DOR, optimizing med protocols throughout monitoring for even growth, etc. Time will only tell but hoping this change to specialist/expect from cookie-cutter will be what we need.

15:54 here. Please update with your cycle results and best of luck! It's too late for us, but I'd be so interested to hear if things worked out for you. We considered going to Cornell, but were emotionally spent by that point.

Will do! It may be too late for us as well but fingers crossed it's not, figure might as well try something different before calling it. He's recommending a low-dose protocol and fresh transfers, similar to what I've read other DOR patients doing.. so already I'm glad he's doing something different than what SGF believes in.

[Anonymous]

CCRM Lone Tree is definitely the clinic of last resort. They used a lot of innovative techniques and options that other clinics do not use such as different triggering techniques, different culture to increase fertilization, human growth hormone, Acai clinic study....etc.

All that being said, I didn't end up getting pregnant after three cycles there and thawing of eggs I froze in my thirties. They gave me the donor egg speech, and I had to regroup. Despite great retrievals of 16 to 19 eggs, they were all "dark" colored and had poor fertilization rates.

Afterwards I did a really horrible cycle at Shady Grove Fertility Center in which they overstimulated me, and of course, it failed. My last cycle was through Walter Reed (The ART Institute of Washington, Inc.), and it worked.

I had a long discussion with the director of the laboratory at Walter Reed while waiting pessimistically for my egg retrieval which was delayed. In her experience, IVF was a crap shoot. She nor any of her lab technicians could calculate who would be successful or who would not. Many women came to their center after multiple failures and became pregnant while others who failed at Walter Reed would get pregnant at the next clinic. She said there was no way knowing whether the sperm or egg was the issue unless you experimented with donor eggs and donor sperm to tell if it was more of an "egg" vs "sperm" quality factor. There were just too many variables involved. Success was guaranteed by two things: a good egg and a good sperm. Her theory: IVF is like gambling....the more you play, the more you increase your odds of winning...however small those gains. The one factor she could identify is that the difficult to get pregnant couples were more likely to find success if they continued trying.

I thought CCRM was my Hail Mary, but it wasn't. I realized it is really about trying over and over again until you find the right egg AND the right sperm. In my experience, it isn't about finding the "right" clinic. Just my two cents....I could have afforded a lot more IVFs with what I paid CCRM....and the cost to travel there.

[Anonymous]

CCRM, without a doubt. I was able to have a healthy pregnancy and birth after 6 cycles of IVF at the age of 45. My IVF child is now 10. I went to Shady Grove first for 3 cycles and was disappointed with them. They transferred less mature embryos whereas CCRM always tried to grow the embryos to the blastocyst stage. Waiting until they are blastocyst greatly increased my chances of success. I will forever be grateful to Dr. Schoolcraft and Dr. Surrey as they were so supportive and kind also. I always felt awkward walking into their clinic because I was so much older than the average woman there. But they never made me feel old. In fact, Dr. Schoolcraft jokingly said with each cycle my eggs seem to be reverse aging and asked me what I was taking or doing to cause this (the embryos were healthier with each cycle). I was seeing an alternative MD who suggested I take Chinese herbs and do acupuncture. CCRM suggested acupuncture before and after implantation and vitamins/supplements as well and this is something Shady Grove did not do back then. CCRM is a world-class clinic. I was such a nervous patient that I regularly called the lab to ask how the embryos were doing after each cycle. I was so impressed with the lab doctors' knowledge and patience with my many questions.

I wish all women struggling with infertility success. I remember the stressful journey well. The cycles were so costly and we are not wealthy. We chose to pull money out of our retirement to fund the last several cycles. When we had just one blastocyst left for implantation, my husband said we simply were running out of money and could not do any more cycles if this last blastocyst didn't "take." I remember sobbing so much. I prayed to God to give me the strength to accept whatever decision He made for me and then submitted myself to His will. In a way, this helped to alleviate the stress of the situation. I always thank God that last blastocyst took.